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CHAPTER ONE
Charlotte Halverson turned in a slow circle, casting a critical eye over the room she’d just finished decorating. She’d been working for the past few hours to get her classroom ready, using brightly colored posters to transform the room from dreary to warm and welcoming for her students.
It was hard to believe that the first day of school was almost upon them, so Charli cherished these quiet moments as she prepared her room for her students and the school year ahead.
The summer holidays had been busy. She’d spent most of it with Layla and Peyton and whatever family members had been available to hang out with them as they went to movies, bowled, and even traveled to Seattle for a few days to do some activities there.
Though she was excited about the upcoming school year, Charli was also apprehensive about it since her daughter, Layla, wouldn’t be in the same school where Charli was teaching. Layla would be in grade six, which meant she’d be starting at the Serenity Point Middle School.
For the first time, Charli had some trepidation about the first day of school, as it related to Layla. From the day Layla had started kindergarten, Charli had been within a few steps of her if she’d needed her. And now that would no longer be the case.
Not wanting to get bogged down by the emotions of how fast her baby was growing up, Charli focused on making sure that she’d done everything she wanted to in the classroom. She took a few minutes to walk past the desks, running her fingers over each nametag as she said a prayer for the child.
She knew many of the children who were in her class that year. Some had older siblings who Charli had previously taught. Others were children of families who attended the same church as Charli. There would also be some who were new to the school.
A knock on her open door had Charli turning toward it. The secretary from the office stepped into the classroom, a piece of paper in her hand.
She was a young woman who had been in the position for just a year, having taken over for the previous secretary when she’d retired after working at the school for almost forty years. That woman had been in the position since before Charli or any of her siblings had even started to attend the elementary school.
“We’ve got another student for you,” Rachel said as she approached Charli and held out the paper. “She was just registered this morning, and since you still had room in your class, you get her.”
“That’s fine,” Charli told her as she took the paper. “I’ll do up a name tag for her desk.”
Rachel glanced around the room. “This looks so fun.”
Charli spent the next couple of minutes chatting with the woman as she took her on a tour of the room. When Rachel left, Charli went back to her desk and sat down to make another name tag.
She’d shift a few of the names around to make room for the new student, making sure that the little girl was seated next to someone who would be friendly to her.
Opening the drawer where she kept the thick card stock she used for the name tags, Charli pulled out a sheet along with some markers and set them on the desk. Uncapping a marker, she glanced at the info on her newest student, and her gaze snagged on the name.
Amelia… Madden?
Charli stared at the paper for a long moment.
It wasn’t the first time she’d come across that last name in the past twelve years. However, each time she heard or saw it, there was always a small pulse of pain.
It wasn’t unique enough that she could assume that anyone with that last name was related to him, but it also wasn’t a super common last name. Which was why it always gave her a moment’s pause when she came across it.
The information Rachel had given her about Amelia contained only her name and birthday, so she couldn’t see who her parents were. Though she had no idea what had happened to Blake Madden after he’d left Serenity Point all those years ago, she was pretty sure he wouldn’t have moved back, even if he did have family in the area.
She hated that thoughts of Blake had interjected themselves into her day. Everything had been going great, but now she was thinking about him when she’d rather think about pretty much anything else.
Resolutely pushing those thoughts aside, Charli wrote out a colorful and playful nametag for her newest student. After it was done, she took it to the desk she’d chosen for Amelia and taped it in place.
After everything was done to her satisfaction, Charli gathered up her things and left the school.
When she stepped into her house a few minutes later, she heard the murmurs of conversation. She’d left Layla at the house with Denise, her brother Jay’s mother-in-law, who came every Friday to clean the large house. As she had throughout the summer, Denise had brought Peyton and Ciara, Jay and Misha’s kids, with her.
“Hi, Mom,” Layla called out when Charli walked into the kitchen.
She and Peyton were kneeling on stools at the island, leaning forward on their elbows, watching as Denise transferred cookies from a baking sheet to a cooling rack.
“We made chocolate chip cookies,” Layla told her. “And Miss Denise let me help her measure things, then Peyton scooped them onto the pan.”
Denise smiled at Charli. “How did it go?”
“Everything is ready,” Charli told her as she set her bag on the stool next to Layla. “Just need the kiddos.”
